Difference between revisions of "Greenwood"

Revision as of 22:06, 21 August 2012

This article is about the space habitat. For the company, see Greenwood, Unltd.

Created By ECSNorway

Rockhounds' corporate headquarters, usually found in Earth Orbit, Lagrange Point Four^[2]

Aside from this, Greenwood Station is best known for its public spaces, specifically Greenwood City.

Greenwood City

History

The sheer size of the asteroid that was hollowed out to form Greenwood Station offered several opportunities to Rockhounds' construction crews. At first plans were made for a massive corporate headquarters in one of the several caverns excavated, with a park in another to provide relaxation and recreation space for the miners. The initial makeshift habitats were rather crude and cramped, and a set of 'wavetech automated construction units were deployed in the largest of the available hollows with instructions to make something better.

The AS's of the bots in question took one look at their instructions, found them laughably incomplete, and proceeded to rampage through every bit of architectural and city-planning information they could find on the internet. A few hours later, they went to work. A large number of additional 'bots were constructed, first, using the materials available (most of the semi-refined metal had simply been stockpiled in the same space it had been extracted from). Their numbers thus increased, the construction of the actual city began.

When someone remembered to check back on them a few weeks later, the first neighborhoods were almost ready for habitation, utilities were on-line to most of the area, and an Enhanced Visual Environment dome covered the ceiling with a programmed day/night cycling display based on Earth's temperate northern latitudes. Some constructive criticism was offered of a few of the bots' choices, plans were discussed, and after several hours of debate the corporate leadership agreed to let the bots finish what they'd started. Two weeks later, workers began moving into the residences made available, and more were invited in to staff the service industries that were growing up around the ever-expanding community.

Greenwood Technical Training Institute (later Greenwood Community College, much later Greenwood University) opened its doors almost immediately, as did several well-known fast-food chains, more upscale restaurants and bars (such as the famous Valhalla), electronics suppliers, clothiers, and sundries providers such as Target and Wal*Mart. The city rapidly became known on Earth as a fine destination for people who wanted to live and work //in space//, but did not necessarily consider themselves 'Fen'. It offered a minimal tax burden, plenty of employment opportunities, and the inestimable cachet of living and working in orbit.

By June of 2011, the city's population was nearing thirty thousand, and city management was handed over from the central planning authority of Rockhounds' corporate board to the publically-held Greenwood Colonial Authority. The first publically-elected mayor was Paul Cormier, a veteran businessman and community activist from upstate New York. Marsden and the rest of Rockhounds' leadership were glad to leave things in his hands as the city began to grow even further.

Layout

The cavern selected had a generally elliptical shape, which has been rounded off by some expansion into the rocky outer walls of the asteroid. The outer rim is taken up by one of the city's several express motorways - the decision was made early on to maintain the modern style of personal transportation, although most automobiles are electrically-powered and equipped with some mushy-tech safety devices. Alternating 'rings' of zoning regions move inwards from this, with the center dominated by a large public park. Road speeds are not high - the entire cavern is only about 12 miles long and eight across - and the rim road is screened from the weather by a force-field system to provide safe driving.

The central park is about two miles long by one wide, elliptical once again, and includes a large open field, several semi-forested areas, and a small lake for swimming (and supporting the aquatic part of the city's ecosystem). It is modelled concsiously after New York's Central Park. Smaller parks are scattered around various neighborhoods of the city.

Directions

The city's compass is arbitrary, not having a magnetic pole or axis of rotation to base it on. 'North' is towards the 'forward' end of the asteroid, where the public docking bays are located, and the massive engines that move it (when necessary) are at the 'south' end. 'East' and 'West' are defined from that, following the gravitational plane of the city. With several loop roads in the city, reference is also made to 'spinward' (clockwise, going 'north' when on the 'west' side and 'south' on the 'east') and 'antispinward' (counterclockwise) when referencing driving directions on them.

Landmarks

• Prominent features in the city include the Boskone War Memorial (a small area set aside in the park), the University (constantly growing), and the Mall (constantly being shopped at). Rockhounds and several related businesses have their headquarters in town, and tend to share an open, airy architectural style, with plenty of space, moving air, and growing green areas. Trees in the lobby are not uncommon. Greenwood Museum of Natural History is a popular tourist spot, including the usual educational exhibits on history, space science, and planetary sciences. The Hall of Heroes is one of its more popular attractions; the exhibit spans the circumference of the third floor of the building. It includes entries from the entire length of human exploration, such as Leif Ericsson, Christopher Columbus, the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, and of course a wide selection from the pre-Fen space programs. The final item in the Hall is labelled "The Next Great Hero", and consists of a mirror.

• The Garden: Built on a cleared and flattened area on what internal gravity generators have made the "upper" surface of the asteroid is a large, domed region, approximately four kilometers on a side. The Captain's personal residence extends up into this area (to give him a nice view of it), and about a third of the space is kept as clear grassy meadow. The remainder is carefully transplanted New York pine forest, with sparse undergrowth and a number of equally carefully transplanted animal species (squirrels, birds, and so forth). The garden's ecosystem is very carefully planned to minimize the need for insects of any sort; there are no insectivores among the resident animals.

Known Quirks

• The drive will not work above atmospheric speeds without a wood fire burning in one of several fireplaces. No one is quite sure why this is, except possibly Rei. Fuel for such fires is carefully hoarded from deadfall in the Garden and occasionally purchased in cord lots from Earth. In order to accomodate this, the 'bridge' area has been expanded to include a rather comfortable lounge, complete with fireplace and fuel storage area.
• A sign on the large vehicle-entry airlock at the bottom of the asteroid reads "Turtles Welcome Here".

Known Crew/Resident Quirks

• Captain Marsden, as CEO of Rockhounds, Inc., and an active collaborator with the TSAB, is one of few fen who actually encourages a widening of fendane and mundane activity in space. He rigorously maintains and defends his American citizenship and an Earthside residence, going so far as to pay taxes and vote. He also, "in the model of Utena-kanchou" as he has put it more than once, frequently serves as the ship's cook.
• Ayanami Rei takes care of the 'garden' and much of the actual machinery that runs the Greenwood, including its engines. She simply appeared one day, when a guest went out to mow the lawn and found it already done. It is speculated that there might be more than one of her (or that 'she' might simply be a projection of a tulpa or other paraphysical life-form), boring tasks tend to be completed when no one's looking and interesting ones whenever someone is actively looking for her.
• The Bo'sun is a cat. Being a cat is, by definition, considered to be a quirk.

Recorded Firsts

• First operational greenhouse in space.
• First Earth-registered business to have its headquarters in space

Notes

1. ↑ The Spitzer Catalog is fictional, based on a proposal currently under review; the number is a hatpull
2. ↑ Varies on occasion, this is the favored "parking orbit"